The June 2023 edition of this magazine contained an article Tristan da Cunha and a Tribute to John Smith, providing a shortened version of the remarkable life story of Commander ...
RAN College
End of an Era: Sail Training at Royal Australian Naval College
By LCDR David Jones RAN Changing Times From 2022, sailing has been removed from the initial training curriculum for new entry officers at RANC. Non-motorised small boat handling, sailing and ...
Occasional Paper 125: Captain Edward Fegen and the Loss of HMS Jervis Bay
By Lloyd Skinner During the Second World War, just 23 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the servicemen of the Royal Navy. One of the courageous few awarded the honour ‘For ...
Dr Frederick Wheatley, Headmaster and Cryptographer
A new book, Australian Code Breakers by James Phelps, has recently been published on the fascinating topic of wartime code breaking. As the front cover tells us this is the ...
The Royal Australian Naval College’s debt to Admiral Creswell
The following article is based on an address by Robert Hyslop to the Canberra and District Historical Society which appeared in that Society’s journal of September 1986, and still relevant ...
Occasional Paper 39: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963
November 2018 Compelled to Resign: The Story Of Commander Paul Hugill Hirst RAN 1899-1963 by Lieutenant Commander Terry Feltham RAN Ret’d “Just because something ends doesn’t mean it never should’ve ...
Two Osborne Houses
To add confusion to our early naval history there are two residences named Osborne House which both became naval academies. The first of these was in England and the second ...
First to Command!
Commander Norman Hamon Shaw OBE, RAN The first graduate of the RANC to command a warship By Commander Tony Vine, RANR Norman Shaw was born in Perth Western Australia on ...
Thirteen Year Old Entries as Potential Admirals
By John Smith When naval training establishments were first introduced on home soil the system of entry into the Royal Australian Navy closely followed Royal Naval traditions. From the first ...
Type of Boy Required . . .
The Royal Australian Naval College in its early years was certainly definitive about what type of entrant was thought most suitable for officer training. A look at the 1918 edition ...